winds of change tour

For far too long people viewed and took Islam for granted . They saw Islam as something backward that only the big tummy mullah at the mosque or the harsh scary maulana at a madrassa talks about. Far too long Islam was the subject of a discussion between people on the the day of eid or during the hajj or limited to

 naat reciters .

 you would hear lines like ” dunya bhi rakho aur deen bhi”, ” islam is not practical in this day and age” or ” look at the west , they have this, they done that” blah blah. So  it seemed that in general people had lost confidence in Islam.

 Enter the daiis from Britain. Adnan Rashid & Hamza Tzortzis. They were invited To Pakistan all the way from the UK. A Muslim country needed a revert Muslim and a brother settled in Britain to come and address the youth of Pakistan. It made sense, both speakers came from a background of living the high life of the west , they adopted the western culture , lived the life in the fast and lane, crashed and were then stitched up by the power of Islam. They rejected the western / secular way of life for the sake of following an Islamic way of life in Britain, where all the wordly comforts are available and at your feet. They were the best people to warn about not to chase the life or look up to it. In fact they went further, they explained with refencers and sources how Islam was the reason for the industrial and technological advancement of the west!

The tour organised by the enterprising Youth Club and the industrious Shifa student society was a raging success! why? because i myself was present at almost all of the lectures,  and saw and heard the response of the varying audiences. Accompanying the speakers all over Islamabad, covering universities colleges and schools. Places like Quadi azam univeristy, Preston University, UCI , Alma, shifa college were packed with students in  the lecture halls to come and listen to what the fuss is about!

 Only Islam can bring up a situation where a Greek guy from Hackney , north east London, accepts Islam ends up in Islamabad and addressing people about Islam in the most charismatic and heart moving way!

Someone like me, who has attended hundreds of lectures from various speakers in Britain, was highly impressed by the content and delivery of the lectures. The event at Faisal Masjid, the two day event , the annual SIST was packed. The audience listened with earnest at the various speakers. The highlight of the event were the keynote speeches by our esteemed guests who mesmerised the audience with thier confident and proud approach at explaining the power of Islam.

The diversity of these daii’s also inspires you. They were at times comical and very serious, angry and then emotional, dynamic and then gentle.

At Quadi Azam Hamza & Adnan showed thier academic prowess. Giving full references to the amazement of the onlooking Phd students .

At the Private seminar adressing the Elite .not only did they answer all types of questions ranging from homosexuality to deep theological questions. I specially liked the way they knew the every day fiqhi answers , suggesting they know more than just thier academic background knowledge.

At the LGS Faisalabad , the speakers made the college students agree to all the points they made by making them shout ‘YES’. Yes to knowing Allah(swt),  communicating with him and thinking about him (swt).

Then you see the humble and alim style of lectures at the jama salafia in Faisalabad. The audience was full of full time madrassa students as well as seasoned ulema. After the seminar, both speakers were loved by all especially after listening to the sincerity of their stories of tawbah.

The school children of ALMA & Oxbridge were very impressed by the lectures. Mainly because they weren’t lectures, they were a group discussion. They even made them do some martial arts exercises! But the message was ingrained in their minds. The message that its cool to be Islamic. Dont be a feather in the wind, just following people’s fashion and opinions, think for yourself, be the wind!. It was also pressed not to become slaves to your desires, or the people around you , but be the slave to the creator of desires and the people…Allah (swt) !

Then you get the extraordinary entertaining and richly academic workshops. Hamza was almost like a television presenter hosting a show! the way he passed on great concepts to the listeners, bringin them up to the front, partnering people up to go through an exercise was brilliant. When was the last time Islam was taught like this? in such a fun way. Who needs any kind of haram entertainment or anything else that the west offers when we can learn about the dynamic power of the ideology of Islam in such an interactive way!

At every event , from IQRA University to RIPHAH and the Qaddafi stadium auditorium , questions were encouraged openly. Naturally there were questions from all sorts of topics , ranging from the evidences of the existence of a creator to the linguistic miracle of the Quran. There was even a very academically deep Embryology in the Quran lecture, showing again the depth of Islam and the knowledge of our guests.

The very fact that every event in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore & Faisalabad, the speakers were mobbed after the lecture was over shows how much people loved and appreciated the talks. They wanted to take photos with them. They provided refreshments in their offices . Another way of knowing that impact had been made by the amount of times they made is cry in some of thier lecturs. Hamza spoke about loving the parents, a topic very emotional and sensitive. Another time he moved everyone to tears when discussing the issue about what our Muslim mothers in Iraq are going through after the sanctions and how we are doing nothing about it!

This was just one tour, it has paved the way of other learned speakers to visit Pakistan and see the potential themselves. Hamza & Adnan were impressed by the response and are passing on this message to others. They have opended the doors on many levels, it’s up to us to walk through the door. It has made us think and inspired us to do something for the deen of Allah (swt)

In all, the response after was huge. People wanted to get involved in dawah, people wanted to join Youth Club, people enjoyed learning about Islam ! and most of all people wanted to CHANGE!

Ill finish off with the line that is everyone ‘s lips:

”If you dont give dawah, you get dawah”